“As Lebanon attracts more and more visitors, MEA as the country’s national carrier has also expanded. Not only are our load-factors on the rise, but our operation is also growing in a variety of ways — from the number of passengers, to the routes we are servicing and the number of aircraft we have in our fleet,” comments Adib Charif, head of IT, MEA.

“With this kind of development, [MEA] required a fully integrated e-business initiative that keeps us close to our vital business information as well as to our customers and suppliers. We selected Oracle E-Business Suite after evaluating a variety of alternatives, Oracle came on top,” he adds.

Deployment of Oracle Human Resources Management System (HRMS) will enable the company’s 2000 employees to access, via a web browser, various self-service functions, including holiday dates, internal company news, flight reports and schedules.

The HRMS project will also the rollout of a single unified payroll system to MEA offices around the globe.

“As a leading airline in the region, we have established branches from Istanbul to London and Sydney to Cairo. With Oracle HRMS, we will be able to rollout localised payrolls which save our finance department a significant amount of time and manual effort,” explains Charif.

With the implementation of Oracle’s procurement module, MEA will be able to effectively track and manage its vast stores and streamline its supplier relationships.

Senior executives will also be able to access real time information on everything from how many spare parts and uniforms the airline has stock on what the catering division needs to ensure of thousands of meals are delivered each day.

Alongside the procurement work, the airline is also overhauling its customer relationship strategy. The implementation of online marketing, sales, and service modules will give the aviation provider insight into the individual needs of its passengers — from seating to menu preferences — which build stronger relationships.